Black Ops
by serapheus
Summary: Sometimes one change is all it takes. What if Naruto wasn't such a fool. What if he saw the potential in Sakura rather than the crush. What if he chose to use that potential for himself.
1. Chapter 1

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Disclaimer: I do not own naruto but I do own this idea  
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Uzumaki Naruto knew, the moment that his team assignment was announced, that his team would likely never work well and that it would be rather unlikely that he would be learning anything from his Jounin supervisor. You don't spend your life wishing to become Hokage and not learn about Konoha's more _exemplary_ shinobi. Add that to the fact that he spent a good deal of his time in and around the Hokage tower, sometimes spying on the Sandaime but mostly setting up pranks, and he was able to recognize most Konoha ninja.

Now Naruto knew a good deal about Hatake Kakashi most notably his chronic laziness and genius status. He knew about his sharingan and was able to understand that Sasuke was likely the only reason Kakashi was their instructor. Now, almost a week later, he knew he was right in his initial assessment. Kakashi sucked as a teacher, he hadn't even taught them anything aside from that 'team before the mission' thing, and Sasuke had to be one of the worst possible people to be on a team with as he continuously repeated that a team would only hold him back.

Sakura was, as usual, hard to deal with. Utterly devoted to Sasuke and with a bad case of fangirlism all she really had was book smarts and an incredible learning curve. From the academy days when her teacher would assign research projects she would finish first. And then she would go on with a report with twice as many pages as anyone else. You need information on some obscure jutsu, weapon, or fighting style? Tell her its name and she'd get back to you with more information than you'd ever need. The teachers had likely added a couple jutsu to their caches because of Sakura's assignments.

All Naruto figured he had to do was get on Sakura's good side and he'd have the ultimate information source. A feat easier said than done as his continuous failure to do so over the years rather blatantly showed. Today we find him lying in yet another crater caused by his latest attempt to make her like him.

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Naruto was, to put it simply, furious…or at least very annoyed. Despite almost a year of work it seemed that no matter how hard he tried he _couldn't_ get Sakura to feel anything more than annoyance with him. He needed a new approach. He knew, unlike his Uchiha team mate, that he _would_ need help to reach his goals. He _knew_ that he wasn't the smartest of people and he knew that wasn't the kind of person to learn straight from books. He needed someone to explain things to him or at least make the things in the books more understandable.

Unfortunately it had finally sunk into him that Sakura, as she was now, would never help him. But maybe…if she didn't think she was helping him. If he could figure out some way of tricking her into thinking that she was doing the work for herself then he ought to be able to steal. And the thought of having a competent team mate was a bonus. That only left how he was going to do it and how he could make sure Sakura wouldn't know who he was. He couldn't use genjutsu, like that was ever an option, and a full body henge would likely be easy for her to detect. A disguise would be necessary but with what and how to give the disguise a background. Then one day as he was passing a stand selling porcelain masks he remembered the men who had protected him from the shadows of his childhood. And from this point the ideas for his disguise began to flow. It just a matter of obtaining what he needed.

Black cloth, enough for five full-body outfits, Sturdy dark grey cloth for a hooded cloak, Three black balaclavas, One shapeless clay mask, White/black/silver thread, the leftover semi-invisible ink from an old prank, and Black contact lenses.

It took quite a while to obtain everything and the contact lenses robbed him of most of his savings but he had them and with time earned skill he made his outfit. And he had to say that he did pretty badly at making it but it _would_ work for his needs. Now for the set up.

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**One week later**

Once he had made his outfit it was simply a matter of choosing a time and a place. Through a bit of observation he had found several areas with rather bad acoustics where he could stage his 'first encounter' but the time had to be carefully considered. Too late and Sakura would be home already not to mention the first of the nightly ANBU patrols would be sweeping the area. Too early and the confrontation would likely draw a crowd. Mid-evening would do as almost everyone who could bother them would be in their homes and Sakura only just be heading home thanks to him engineering a meeting between her and Ino just after Kakashi released them from training.

The place was chosen, the time affirmed, and the stage was set.

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For Haruno Sakura it had been a relatively normal day. Watch Sensei train Sasuke, then go on another d-rank mission, get paid for the mission, and try to ask Sasuke for a date while fending off Naruto's attempts to ask her on a date. A small confrontation between her and Ino had soured things a bit but it did lead to her feeling remarkably satisfied as she walked home later that evening after getting in the last word.

Things began to turn towards the unusual when she realised that the street she was walking down was completely deserted. And things went from unusual to rather violent as someone grabbed her from behind and threw her into a dead-end alley. With a rather badly executed tuck-and-roll that ended up with a bad scrape along her arm she found herself facing her faceless attacker. She gathered breath to scream only to have that breath blown out as her attacker suddenly appeared in front of her with a gut punch that sent her tumbling.

The next several minutes were filled with pain and barely competent attempts to lessen said pain. Finally she was thrown up against the back wall of the alley, her head smacking the wall hard enough to dim her sight for several moments. As her eyes cleared she could barely perceive that her attacked had crouched in front of her and was drawing something on her chest, no on her heart. Her vision suddenly cleared as her attacker suddenly threw a punch at her chest that was dully glowing with chakra. She took a swipe at him only to hear him chuckle as he jumped back to lean against one of the alley walls.

Seeing this as a chance she gathered breath to scream only for the man to quickly make three seals and suddenly she had to fight not to throw up as her vision and equilibrium were suddenly thrown out of control. She failed. After a few minutes of retching she finally looked up at the clay faced man to see him still leaning casually against that wall. After another couple moment she regained enough strength to whisper.

"Why?" she asked

The man was silent for a moment before bringing himself out of his slouch and began to speak in a deep and strangely distorted voice, like he was speaking through several filters.

"Because you have been chosen to be trained to join an elite program of Ninja who's only loyalty is to the Hokage. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, we do not exist. Our agents are 'officially' KIA, MIA, Retired, or civilian. No one speaks of us and our methods are a secret known only to ourselves. The only people who know the true identity of every agent are the supreme commander and the Hokage. We are the Black Ops and you have been drafted."

Sakura felt her eyes widen as she internally jumped with glee. The only reason she could possibly have been pulled into this program would be because she must have some hidden strength or bloodline. Said happiness was shattered as the man went on.

"Likely you are feeling some happiness about your drafting…you likely think that you have been drafted because of some hidden strength or such idiocy" he paused to let this sink in, "The reason you have been drafted is because when we fake your death as the final recruitment step, while some people may mourn you no one will be surprised. So might lament that you had some potential but most will simply think of you as a deadbeat who's only use was as a meat shield. And even as you are trained that will be the image you will keep up. From now until the day you truly die you are hereby forbidden from speaking a word about the Black Ops program and any training you receive from it to anyone who is not a part of Black Ops."

Sakura froze in place not believing what she was hearing. She had just been drafted into an organization that forced her to never show any progress to her Sasuke-kun and was told that the only reason she was being inducted was because she was disposable to the rest of the world? Her fear slowly turned to anger as she stewed on the words of her recruitment before she let out a growl and a rather un-feminine oath.

"Why the hell would I keep quiet about this?" She demanded more than asked

The man cocked his head for a moment before answering

"You aught to remember me inking something on your chest when you were up against that wall." He paused, seeming to savour the confusion then dawning realisation on Sakura's face "That was me turning your heart into a miniature explosive note" he seemed to exude a good deal of mirth and smugness as he watched the horror develop on her face

"So what…you can't watch me all the time." Sakura couldn't keep the tremors out of her voice and felt a new piece of terror bull through her as the man simply shrugged

"_I_ don't have to. Some of our civilian agents will be watching you and even that's not necessary…you remember that little genjutsu that sent you spinning. That was a genjutsu trigger which has been wired into your mind and will monitor all forms of communication that you undergo. In the case that you attempt you communicate or make notes about the program or your training other than what is allowed then the trigger will set off your heart which will cause a catastrophic heart failure ensuing in your heart bursting…at least as far as the coroner will know that's what happened."

As she reeled in this new information she vaguely realised that the man was walking towards the end of the alley. She was shaken out of her stupor as she realised that the man was speaking again.

"-me back at this location in three days at 1900 hours. As for the first assignment in your training, you will learn and make comprehensible notes on the two techniques I am about to use, notes which you will leave on the academy rooftop two days from now. Hmm…and before I forget from now on you will refer to me as Zan."

Suddenly the man jumped on of the alley walls and ran up it perpendicular to the wall and upon reaching the top of the wall vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura stared for a long time at the spot where the Man known to her only as Zan had vanished. Then she slowly began to trudge home. Tomorrow she would have to plead off training with Sensei so she could visit one of the more secure ninja libraries to research the techniques she had been told to learn. She had a feeling that negligence not completing her assignment would end up with her in a worse state than she was in now, the thought of which brought a rather heavy wince.

How the hell was she going to explain her appearance to her Mother?

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In a dark room an old man slowly sat back stroking a grey beard as he contemplated the crystal sphere in front of him before he let out a quiet grunt and smirked.

"Well now this is an interesting development."

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	2. Chapter 2

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Disclaimer: I do not own naruto but I do own this idea  
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Victory is a sweet thing, Naruto decided as he reviewed the notes that he had picked up from the academy roof only minutes ago. It was two days after his little battle with Sakura and so far almost everything had gone according to plan, better even at times. Since the previous day Sakura had been begging off training, stating a desire to research something. An added bonus was that Kakashi had thought that her absence was a good excuse to suspend group training for a few days so Naruto was free to train on his own for a while as some henge'd kage-bunshin kept watch on Sakura. She had been quite diligent in working herself to not only make the ordered notes but become somewhat competent in the practical use of the techniques.

Though thinking of how he went about creating the illusion of knowing said techniques sent a wince through Naruto and caused him to massage his toes slightly in remembrance of the several gashes he'd had because of the semi-rusty nails he'd used to fake the wall-walking. Though he did grin as he thought about his fake shunshin. Making an overpowered kage-bunshin and nigh-instantly dispelling it had created quite the smokescreen for him to dive behind and simply crawling along the roof gave the illusion that he had vanished.

Now though, he had the notes he needed and as such it was time to train. He had found a special training ground a long time ago, even before his academy days. While it was run down and remarkably disused, it was far off the beaten path.

Though he kept feeling like he was forgetting something every time he saw one of those odd three-pronged kunai stuck into various trees and logs.

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Sakura was understandably twitchy as she left her home on the third day and walked towards the alley where naught but three nights ago she had been beaten to a bloody pulp and been introduced to the greatest secret Konoha kept within it. As she entered the alley she desperately hoped that since she had completed her assignment she wouldn't get attacked a hard as she was before. A hope that was thoroughly blasted as she was suddenly hit with a rather excruciating kick to the spine that threatened to snap her in half.

Lucky for her it simply sent her head first into the alley forcing her to execute a rather painful repetition of her first entry into said alley, that is, with a rather poorly done tuck-and-roll and several painful abrasions. As she looked up at her faceless assailant her hands went into a, by now, familiar double seal that she activated with a mutter and promptly vanished with a puff of smoke.

The alley was silent for several moments before Zan began to chuckle quietly and shook his head in amusement.

"Good work Haruno," he said after a few moments before suddenly lashing out behind him and grabbing her by the throat and wrist stopping her attempted kunai slash "But not even close to good enough."

With that he wrenched her wrist caused a grotesque grating sound that would have sent her screaming if not for the hand wrapped around her throat. Instead her hand convulsed, releasing its grip on her kunai sending it clattering to the ground. Then with a slight grunt he lifted her off the ground and threw her into one of the alley walls. She slowly picked herself off the ground, leaning against the wall for support only to have the breath driven out of her as Zan drove an elbow into her sternum and found her own kunai being pressed against her neck.

Her eyes snapped shut as her life flew before her, her body so caught up in the fear of death that it froze and all her senses dulled into a quiet murk as they waited for the killing blow to send her into oblivion. And waited. And after what seemed like an age Sakura opened her eyes to find that her assailant was no long mere millimetres from killing her. Indeed he was leaning against the opposite wall of the alley watching her and spinning the very kunai that had drawn a faint line of blood from her neck.

Slowly her senses came back to her and things suddenly seemed sharp and fresh while her body felt sensations of relief that she had never before felt. Subconsciously she knew that she was in a minor state of shock but currently she felt like things had just gotten better for some reason. It was because of this sensitivity that she caught the kunai that Zan had lobbed at her. And while she marvelled at what her sense of touch was telling her about the grip of the kunai she also marvelled at the opaque monotone voice that sounded out from in front of her.

"Come at me. Only this time," She could feel the smirk in his voice and some dormant part of her mind squirmed at it's sound "no weapons"

Slowly, unhurriedly, one could even say luxuriously, she pocketed her kunai and with a silent charge-

Her training began once again.


	3. Chapter 3

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Disclaimer: I do not own naruto but I do own this idea  
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**6****th**** meeting**

_**Too slow**_

Barely dodge a punch eyes widening as a stream of chakra lashes out and slices several trash cans in half, barely react in time to half-way knock aside flashing punch, gasp in pain as an unnoticed knife brings forth a thin line of blood along the arm.

_**Too weak**_

Lash out with a slash only to be grabbed and thrown, recover and kick out at the legs only to feel pain spring through the ankle while the other barely twitches, jump up and fire off a straight kick only to freeze as the foot is grabbed and the momentum is shifted sending her up, over, and into a wall with a heavy crash and a gasp of pain.

_**Too unaware**_

Slowly beat away the pain and jump back on aching legs only to whirl around unable to find the other, warily step out into the centre of the alley scanning fruitlessly for the other, suddenly look up only to sigh in relief at the nothingness above her only to go pale as a watery moon as the word 'foolish' drifts past her ears.

A word just prior to a pair of hands reaching out of the ground and dragging her down to her neck.

"Well at least you show some improvement, recruit Sakura" came the mocking yet toneless voice of Zan as he crouched down in front of her.

"That is if some could be taken as barely any growth at all" he said with an audible growl as his hand flashed out and grabbed her head in a crushing grip.

"Have you _ever_ trained physically? Something makes me doubt that you ever did anything other than the absolute essentials demanded from the academy. Well guess what girl. That ends now. Tomorrow you will 'wander' past training ground 24 where you will find Jounin named Maito Gai. You ensure that you are noticed by him and will introduce yourself, bringing up the fact that you are a student of Kakashi. You will listen through ensuing speech and, after professing yourself to be interested in becoming stronger, you will request some tips on training and mention having heard of body weights and also ask where you might buy some. You will be 'gifted'with a set of them. After thanking him you will leave, making up some excuse for having to leave him." His grip shifted painfully eliciting gasp and a yelp of pain

"The only time you will take off those weights will be to shower and sleep. Likely you will wish to change your wardrobe to conceal them in some manner due to some foolish desire to remain somewhat feminine in the eyes of others. It matters not in the least what you wear only remember that mobility must be the ultimate concern to be considered. Your 'homework' is in the usual form, learn the two techniques I used and make comprehensive, easy to understand notes to be placed in an open lockbox at the base of the Hokage monument where you will also find the details on our next meeting place." His grip suddenly tightened as with a grunt of effort he ripped her out of the ground dangling her a foot or so off the ground for a moment before throwing her to the side into the row of trash cans that had been slashed in half earlier generating several jagged cuts on her arms, cuts which elicited a disdainful snort from Zan

"And in addition, for you poor workmanship, you will also learn and make notes for some basic healing techniques. Too many scars and cuts will make others suspicious of you even if you play them off as training accidents"

And with that he vanished, the telltale chakra marks denoting a Shunshin the only thing remaining and even those faded leaving Sakura to painfully pick herself up and slowly drag herself home where she could patch herself up and try to get some sleep before getting up in early the next morning to be prepared for her meeting with Gai.

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Naruto huddled on the roof of one of the few buildings within several hundred feet of training ground 24, watching as Sakura walked up to one of the true melee beasts of Konoha, Maito Gai. An amused smirk slid across his face as he watched events play out, painfully mirroring his own first meeting with the eccentric man years ago during his early academy days. His hand wandered down to feel the cool metal bands encircling his legs from ankle to knee, the same bands that also ran from wrist to elbow on his arms, wincing slightly as he touched the part of his leg Sakura had kicked the previous night, feeling a rather bad bruise forming.

Still it was with no little satisfaction that he thought about the techniques he was going to learn from Sakura, though a grimace suddenly jumped to his face as he reached into his pouch and pulled out the mini handsaw that was part of his survival kit, rendered completely useless from using it to saw those trash cans in half. He tossed the saw off the edge of the roof, landing it easily in a dumpster beneath him. The frown remained on his face for only a few moments before a grin replaced it thinking of his other trick. He had found out that there was a slightly pressurized water main directly beneath that alley and had drilled a tiny hole down to it, puncturing it and creating a sinkhole. Mending the puncture a few days later had been tricky and it was harder still to cut out an unbroken hole in the thin concrete in order to place a clone in the dried out sinkhole.

He was suddenly drawn back into the world of the waking as he noticed with a start noticing that Sakura was quick stepping away from the training ground, or at least as much of a quick step as could be made when carrying a armload of rather heavy arm and leg weights. An amused smile seeped onto his face as he noted the look of frenzied panic and terror on Sakura's face.

Now that _really_ reminded him of his meeting with Gai.


	4. Chapter 4

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I do own this idea  
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**Preparing for 12****th**** meeting**

Pull on the black balaclava checking in the mirror to carefully hide every bit of blond hair. Slip on the thick leather vest over that a black long-sleeved shirt carefully detaching the weights on the forearms. Pull on the loose black pants carefully tucking in the shirt and threading a belt to hold the shirt in before crouching to detach the 5 bands of weights on each of the legs, the floor groaning under the enormous weight. Pull on the combat boots tying them securely. Form a Kage Bunshin to check over the neck line making sure that no skin is visible and the balaclava is snug and clean of external evidence. Dissolve the Bunshin, smiling slightly as the memories ease into the mind. Only the fact that parts of them are desired spares them the filtration that would have been otherwise required.

Confident in the first part of his disguise Naruto carefully removed one of the black contact lenses from its sterile container. Holding his eye open as he carefully slips it in getting it in just the right spot before grabbing it with a tiny film of chakra ensuring that the lens would not move allowing his pupil a view through the tiny clear center of the lens. Fitting the second lens in took only a moment as his body remembered the flows of chakra needed to hold the lens.

Looking down beside the sink he carefully picked up the reinforced clay mask, checking it all over for cracks that might splinter in the heat of battle. Satisfied in finding none of such he turns it around and fixes it onto his head with a five band configuration. He easily reached behind him and slung the cloak onto his shoulders, snapping the clasp shut and pulling the hood over his head. The moment he looks at himself in the mirror and sees the mask he feels himself straighten unconsciously, his posture becoming much more controlled and calm, the near critical slouch fading, his eyes hardening, and his stance shifting as his senses began to pick up every little detail as hyperawareness set it.

Where Naruto stood, Zan remained.

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Glancing at the small pocket watch in his hand a sense of slight anticipation descended upon him as he noted that Sakura would be there within moments. Carefully slipping the watch into his pocket and zipping it closed, he jumped landing halfway up the wall and gripped momentarily before pushing away and smoothly launching himself up. Gracefully landing on the opposite roof he crouched and carefully began moving to the edge of the roof facing the open street where he hid himself into a shadow and waited.

Not long after having hid himself he noted a figure turning onto the empty street. A sense of satisfaction spread through him as he noted the changes that Sakura had undergone. Gone was the red dress and skin-fitting shorts. In their place was a jacket the color of rich red wine and loose beige slacks. He knew from experience that she was likely wearing shirt of a lighter shade of red under the jacket. The changes had come nearly a day after Sakura had received her weights from Maito Gai.

Noticing that she was nearing the alley he removed himself from his examination of her clothes and began examining her stance and watching for openings. Noting several he waited until she reached the entrance of the alley.

Waited as she paused and looked around.

Waited as her nerves began to fray.

Waited as she slowly began to walk into the alley.

Waited until she had just entered the alley before carefully slipping off the roof landing silently on street level and creeping up behind her. Whipping out a side kick he watched as Sakura leapt forward dodging the kick and spun around to face him. Smiling slightly behind his mask he felt the need to compliment her.

"You've gotten better, Haruno" he said carefully tailoring his voice to be utterly toneless.

"You've been teaching me sir" she replied a small smile of pride on her face.

"Good to see that I haven't been wasting my time" he said as he whipped a kunai at her.

And thus continued Sakura's training under Zan.


	5. Chapter 5

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Disclaimer: I do not own naruto but I do own this idea  
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**Three weeks since initial confrontation / 14 meetings since initial confrontation**

"Knock, Knock, Knock"

Naruto groaned loudly as he looked up from his bed at his alarm clock. Ten PM.

"Go away" he grumbled as he pulled his pillow over his head only to be answered by further knocking.

With a groan and a loud thud he slid off his bed and left his bedroom, heading towards the door. With a yawn and sleep filled eyes he fumbled with the door for a minute before remembering to unlock the deadbolt and finally pulled the door open a fraction.

"What is…it?" He stared blearily at the man in shinobi armor and the white bear mask

"The Hokage has requested your presence"

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Naruto stood in front of the doors to the Hokage's private study and felt himself swallow nervously before a nudge from on of the ANBU that had escorted him reminded him that if he didn't go in willingly he would probably get dragged in. So with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The first thing he noticed was how dark and smoky it was. The next thing was that the moment he stepped away from the door it had closed on its own. The next was that the room was utterly silent apart from the quiet scratch of pen on parchment. He was left blinking for several seconds trying to adjust to the twilight darkness that filled the room. Belatedly he realised that the only light in the room was coming from a small lamp on the large desk in front of him. He then realised that the source of the smoke was the pipe that was resting idly in the hand of the Man sitting behind said desk.

The Hokage.

Naruto again felt himself swallow reflexively. The old man seemed not to notice him as he sat in a well cushioned chair, hunched a small scroll writing something. After a minute or so he put down the pen he was using and pulled a small stamp from his robes, firmly pressing it into the top right corner of area he had been writing on and after gently blowing on it for a few seconds he carefully wrapped the scroll up and tied a small piece of string around it before placing it to one side. Only then did he look up at Naruto and Naruto had never seen such a serious look on his face.

"Sit" he said with a small gesture to one of the chairs in front of the desk.

Naruto hurried over to the chair and sat with the air of a dead man.

"You likely do not need to be told why you are here, Naruto." The man once known as 'The Professor' said.

"My…training of Sakura" Naruto said with a slight wince

"Indeed…though Training is hardly the word for it. Brutal unabashed beatings seem more like it." Naruto winced at the vehemence in the Hokage's voice "but…I cannot deny the results…it has been three weeks since you began your nighttimes sessions with Sakura and while both of you may put up a very convincing act that nothing was going on, for a person who has the ability to watch your meetings it is obvious that both of you are improving rapidly." He paused as he seemed to think something over "very rapidly. If it didn't conflict with what I am going to do tonight then I would have awarded both you and Sakura with the rank of Chunin. Unfortunately that would reveal what you have been doing and that is something neither of us want"

Naruto winced heavily as he thought about what Sakura would do to him if she knew that he was Zan. Then he repressed a shudder as his imagination helpfully supplied him with several gruesome images of his own demise before his mind suddenly jumped as it processed the entirety of his commander's words.

"Um sir?" Naruto flinched as the Hokage's gaze swept to him "what did you mean when you said that neither of us wants _it_ to be revealed"

"Simple Naruto. You made your bed now you have to sleep in it" Seeing the confusion on Naruto's face a shark-like smirk flashed across his face "I suppose this is going to require a bit of history."

The Hokage leaned back into his chair and puffed on his pipe for a few moments. Finally he rested his head on a hand and began to speak with such a commanding air that Naruto couldn't help but pay his utmost attention to.

"Several years before you were born an ex-shinobi named Danzo created a new division of ANBU known as 'ROOT'. It consisted of various people who were deemed too weak, too reckless, too young, or of dubious mental health, that they could not be sent reliably on missions of any kind. It looked like a good idea in the beginning. A place for people to be rehabilitated for regular shinobi work or be brought into the fold early on in life. Unfortunately a few years down the line we found the truth…the young ones were being indoctrinated into soulless emotionless machines, the crazed were pushed past the brink of sanity and turned into berserkers, the reckless were put through a training regime that ripped them apart and turned them into monsters, and the weak…they were really the only thing I couldn't really say much on...the weak he turned into true shinobi…killers of the night. True assassins. But because of his various other regimes…we shut ROOT down and tried, almost always failed, to rehabilitate those he had had a grip on."

The old man slowly rolled his shoulder as he paused for a few moments and various crackling sounds could be heard from his protesting joints.

"But rumors have surfaced that point to Danzo, rumors that seem to indicate that while ROOT may have been officially disbanded that Danzo has still been recruiting and that ROOT continues to operate." His eyes suddenly snapped to Naruto and held him firmly in place "This is something that has caused me no small amount of grief. If Danzo does something stupid it will be Konoha who will be to blame…so I need a counter to his ROOT. A counter that you have given me Naruto-" He carefully hid a smirk in anticipation of Naruto's reaction

"-or should I call you 'Zan the Supreme-commander of Jiyuueigyou' "


	6. Chapter 6

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Disclaimer: I do not own naruto but i do own this idea  
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**Four days after official mandate**

Naruto sighed as he flung himself onto his new bed with a tired sigh, not even needing to look at his clock to know it was nearly morning. He had been up almost all the night placing seals on his four new recruits. Thinking of the seals, or more specifically the scrolls he had learned them led to a groan as he remembered the fourth scroll that he had hidden in a lockbox in a semi-sealed bunker underneath the vacated apartment block that he was now living in at the behest of the Hokage. And thoughts of the scroll lead to remembrance of that night four days ago.

~~~Flashback~~~

"You have got to be joking!" Naruto yelled as he practically leaped out of his chair

"On the contrary Naruto, I am very serious about this." The Hokage said in a placating tone.

For several moments Naruto simply stood there breathing heavily, staring at Sarutobi before finally sighing and flopping back into his chair like a puppet with it's strings cut. The Hokage reached to his right and picked up the small scroll that he had been working on when Naruto came in.

"This is an official document that authorizes the recipient with the allowance to do anything, to anyone, anywhere, at any time, for the sake of Konoha's protection from forces both internal and external." He gently tossed the scroll to Naruto who fumbled slightly to catch it "You have the right to recruit anyone to your cause by any means necessary. I trust that your judgement of said recruits will ensure that none of the recruits exposes you or your organization. In the case of said exposure Konoha will deny having anything and everything to do with you or your organization and will publicly denounce you and your compatriots as rogues."

The Hokage paused to open a drawer in his desk and removed a tied bundle of three scrolls which he tossed to Naruto who was barely able to catch them.

"Those scrolls detail three techniques that you will need in order to mark and induct members into Jiyuueigyou. The first is a first grade long range assassination seal known as Shin Gekimetsu. The second details how to embed triggers into seals, specifically the Shin Gekimetsu seal. The third details the procedure that the ANBU use to implant seals into a tattoo along with several seals that can be used in said procedure and various styles of tattoos that can be used."

Naruto stared at the scrolls for a few minutes before frowning as his mind suddenly seemed to grasp everything that it was told. He muttered to himself for a few more moments before looking up at the Hokage.

"Supplies…money?"

"It will be up to you to find a source. The ways in which I can be seen to be helping you are very limited in the event of your exposure."

Naruto frowned for several moments before nodding.

"I'll need a list of retired Shinobi…am I allowed to recruit out of ANBU?"

Sarutobi leaned back as he thought for a moment before shaking his head resolutely

"No…ANBU is more useful as public reassurance of power...and there is a list of retired shinobi, from Genin to Chunin, in the Hokage library two racks over from the scroll of forbidden seals. It's in a blue scroll with a crane Sigel engraved on edges. You'll need this key to get in. There is no list of Retired Jonin."

Naruto idly caught the key as he reviewed his options before frowning.

"Housing and a base?"

The Hokage seemed surprised for a moment before he schooled his features and mulled it over. After a few minutes of silence he sat up and nodded to himself.

"There is an empty apartment block in the eastern district. Beneath it is a large amount of underground bunkers from the third war. They were last used by Orochimaru so you might need to…decontaminate the area and they are the main reason that the apartments have remained empty. You are to move into the apartment block immediately under the pretence that your landlord kicked you out." the Hokage smirked slightly "upon hearing the news of such I, the Hokage, decided to gift you with the keys to an apartment complex in one of the abandoned sectors of Konoha. That is story both of us will feed people if asked."

The Hokage quickly pulled out a small scrap of paper from one of his desk drawers and wrote a note upon it.

"Give this to one of the ANBU when you leave and they will obtain the keys and the deed and get them to you. And I think that should be all that will need to be taken care of."

Naruto stood up to take the note which he stuffed into his pocket then snapped off a very haphazard salute.

"I'll try to do you proud Hokage-sama"

"Make sure that you do as otherwise it'll be your head on the chopping block not mi-"

~~~End Flashback~~~

Naruto was suddenly startled from his dozing remembrance by the blaring sound of his alarm clock. A quick smack turned it off but he found that he just couldn't relax anymore. Sighing at the injustice of his life he got up and stretched with a heavy wince before walking towards his kitchen, having not bothered to get changed from his night studies. As he gathered himself breakfast he idly contemplated the work he had been doing in the past few days and winced as he realized that he was probably moving much to fast.

But then he sighed as he remembered that things needed to be set up quickly. Already he had recruited four people aside from Sakura, civilian yes but people who he knew were decently trustworthy and very loyal to Konoha. With said recruits he had held off on placing the Shin Gekimetsu seal and trigger combination until last night so he could fully understand the procedure of placing them. Not to mention learning how to make tattoo's out of chakra–reliant ink so that said tattoo would only appear when someone that was keyed into the tattoo put chakra into the miniature seal network within the tattoo.

Naruto let of a slight groan as he munched on his breakfast. Two of the recruits had solved his supplies problem as far as food and general goods went, both being wholesalers that now supplied him with very minimum charges. Another was a simple man who simply had very good connections to many influential people in several industrial and economic companies which would send along the names of said people who could easily be convinced to lose shipments of various metals, alloys, pharmaceuticals, and other such goods that his first two recruits couldn't give. And the last recruit was a man who was extraordinarily lucky when it came to investments and owned various businesses which he could siphon amounts of money from into various dummy accounts for use by the Jiyuueigyou.

Naruto finished his breakfast and carefully set his dishes his sink and quickly rinsed them while washing his hands. Walking towards his door his quickly wiped off his hands on is pants and left his apartment.

A new day had come and soon, Jiyuueigyou would rise...now all Naruto needed was to remember the name of that blasted blacksmith that he wanted to recruit. The one with that daughter that he swore had a pointy-thing fetish.

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Translator's notes:

Shin Gekimetsu = Core Destruction.


End file.
